Eclectic junk from the four corners of the ‘Net. And pictures too!
Now this sends a chill up my spine… Apparently a large flock of migrating birds were the cause of a systems crash at the St. Louis air traffic controller system. Everything turned out to be fine, the Kansas City airport was able to take over while the computers were being rebooted. The FAA is looking into the event.
I guess there is a place in the world for these. Pretty standard, 4 USB 2.0 ports and cute Disney characters on them. Did I mention that they are cute? (shudder…)
Who the heck wouldn’t want one of these? Clearly the guys at AirHogs have been looking at the Japanese sumo robots that have been using vaccume systems to stick to the playing surface (you lose if your pushed out of the ring). This toy uses a suction device to let you drive around smooth surfaces like windows. I see that this is a prime canadate for some sumo ring sucking acton here in the states!
[via GadgetMadness]
Here is a simple and elegant solution for movement in a virtual world. Walking in the sphere while wearing wireless VR gear provides 360 degree freedom of movement. Just the think if your going to be walking around in Second Life.
[via GadgetMadness ]
The VirtuSphere: full body immersion Virtual reality at last
If your like me you grew up reading amazingly illustrated books like ‘Underground‘ so you have a sense of what is under foot when your walking around in your city. For those that might have missed the insight that those books might have brought you, there is the National Geographic’s version for what is under a New York city street (no, not ill favored mobsters!) The scale of underground construction in that place is stunning. Just knowing that when your in a subway there is a maze of pipes and conduits all around you is awe inspiring.
[via Core77 ]
I just finished a little tutorial on how to take stereo photographs while your flying in a plane. It’s a great way to pass the time while your waiting to land plus it give you a wonderful chance to see clouds and mountains in a way that hardly anyone ever thinks of. I have a Flickr set with a few that I’ve taken on my last few flights. Enjoy and remember that there is always fun to be had if you have your camera handy.